Three-wheeled Train
by InkSpatteredHands
Summary: Jack has been spending more and more time with Katherine instead of Crutchie. What will Crutchie do? Written for Newsies Pape Selling Competition. Change is bad.


**Written for the Newsies Pape Selling Competition Round Three**

 **The Task One: Change means "Growth" and is a positive thing in a person's life.**

 **Task Two: Change means "Doing" is a force for the betterment of a group of people's lives.**

 **Task Three: Change means "Bad" and has a negative connotation for someone's life.**

 **Task Four: Change means "Controversial" and it is up to a person to decide if it is good or bad.**

 **WORD COUNT: 2666 (gasp! 666! Oh wait I'm writing this. Never mind. 2675)**

 **I'm talking to you, on the iPad. Or phone. Or computer. I don't own Newsies the musical. You heard it right here folks. I DO NOT OWN NEWSIES.**

 **Anyways, right now I'm just mixing the musical and the movie together right now because I've seen both so many times, so sorry it's not really one or the other.**

"Hey Race, do you know where Jack is? I gotta show him something."

It was a bright sunny day in New York, and Crutchie was itching to show Jack something he'd found on the street.

"Dunno" Race said, exchanging money with Wiesel.

"What do you have to show him?" He asked, switching his cigar from one side of his mouth to the other. Crutchie began his story.

"Well, earlier this morning, I was just walking down the street when I saw this little glint near the gutter, so I go to pick it up and here it is." Crutchie held up a tiny one inch black train with red stripes on the side and the words Santa Fe written in flowing cursive. The train was heavy, and cold to touch. Race removed the cigarette from his mouth.

"I bet you could get a lotta money from selling that tiny little thing. Some rich kid probably dropped it or something."

"Yeah, but I think Jack will like it more." Race squinted at the train.

"Fifty papes." Wiesel said, slamming the bundle of newspapers down in front of them. Race picked up the papes and stuffed them in his bag.

"You guys need to have a celebratory lunch over a find like that, or something then."

Crutchie frowned."He's probably busy with Katherine or something. I'll give it to him when we go to bed." Crutchie said, grabbing his own bundle of scoffed.

"Too busy for his best friend? Come on Crutchie, just have lunch with him or something, I don't know what you guys do. I'm going to the racetrack later. I've got a hot new tip on a horse, so if you want to join me and Romeo…" Race trailed off, and stuck his cigarette back in his mouth.

Crutchie mentally cringed. Races weren't really his thing. He just didn't see the point in riding a horse around a track a million times.

"No thanks, maybe some other time. Thanks for the advice though." Race shrugged, and wandered off to go find Romeo.

Crutchie d hobbled over to where Jack was standing, watching Les sell a pape to a rich lady with puffy sleeves. He was a terrible actor, but somehow the richer ladies never seemed to notice.

"Buy a pape from a poor orphan miss?" Les asked pitifully, then coughed into his sleeve. The lady seemed to melt.

"Of course!" She handed him a coin and took the newspaper daintily.

Crutchie nudged Jack on the shoulder."Hey Jack! Do you want to grab lunch later at Tibby's? I've got something important I want to show you," He asked cheerfully. Jack nodded.

"Whoa, slow down. Good morning Crutchie." Crutchie shifted from foot to foot impatient for Jack's answer.

"Sure, I'll go to Tibby's with you later." Jack answered, amused by his friend's impatience, and half distracted by the scene unfolding before him. Crutchie grinned.

"Great. See you later!" Jack turned his attention back to Les.

"Good job Les!"

Les smiled, and held up a twenty five cent piece.

"I got a quarter!"

Crutchie finished selling his papes and dragged his weary body back to the Lodging House. He seperated the coins he needed to buy more papes tomorrow from the others and put them in his pocket. Not the safest spot for money, but it wasn't easy to forget one of your two pairs of pants. He fingered the remaining coins, then dug an old tattered box out from beneath Jack's bed. The Santa Fe fund. They had almost had enough for two, before Katherine came along and Jack started spending all of his spare money on her instead of putting it in the box. Still, Crutchie hated to see the box left dusty under the bed. He plunked the extra coins from selling into the slit and listened as they rattled against the other spare change. It was funny though, the box seemed to be a bit lighter from the last time Crutchie had deposited money in it. He decided it was just his imagination. He placed the box back under the bed with a thump just as Katherine came into the room. Today she was wearing a bright pink dress with puffy sleeves and her hair was curled at the top. She somehow smelled of cinnamon and Crutchie couldn't help but take in a few deep breaths of air. She noticed him and smiled.

"Hey Crutchie, I'm afraid I left my scarf somewhere in here. Would you happen to know where it is..?" She trailed off. Crutchie picked himself off the bed.

"Sorry I don't know where it is, but I'd be happy to help you find it," he said automatically reverting into helpful friend mode. He spotted the scarf in the corner. It was pink and had roses all over it. It was amazing the other boys hadn't done something with it yet, like make it into a flag again or use it toilet paper. He shuddered at the thought, then picked up the scarf and handed it to Katherine.

"Here you go," Katherine felt the scarf gingerly, making sure there was no rips or holes. Crutchie wondered if she knew about the toilet paper incident, or was just making sure that it was hers. "Thank you so much Crutchie!" Crutchie nodded, and pulled his lips up into a forced smile.

"No problem, anytime Kath!" The girl smiled and left the room, leaving behind the faint scent of cinnamon to linger in the air. Crutchie let out a breath he didn't even know he had been holding.

There actually was a slight problem. Katherine wouldn't have brought the scarf unless she had gone somewhere cold. The roof. It didn't take Sherlock to figure that out. Jack's penthouse had been just Crutchie and Jack's thing, and now he was bringing Katherine up there? The next thing he was gonna do was take the cap right off of Crutchie head and hand that to Katherine. Maybe it was all just a big misunderstanding, and it would all clear up when Crutchie went to Tibby's and just talked to Jack.

The bell on top of the door jingled, announcing Crutchie's presence to the customers in Tibby's. Some of the other newsies looked up and gave Crutchie a grin or half wave. Crutchie scanned the room for Jack. Not seeing him, he slid into one of the wooden chairs to wait, and glanced up at the clock, which read 12:00. Jack was supposed to be here by now, but Crutchie didn't mind waiting another five minutes or so. Mr. Jacobi **(call me strange but I had no idea the owner had a name until I looked it up, and now I feel retarded)** took one look at Crutchie and sighed.

"I suppose it will be a water for you?" He guessed, straightening his apron. Crutchie nodded.

"Yes please Mr. Jacobi." The waiter's corners of his mouth twitched up in a small smile and the areas around his eyes crinkled. Crutchie took another peek back at the clock. 12:02.

"Glad someone around here remembers my name. You boys come in every day and not many bother. Fix that cap though. It's on backwards." Crutchie sighed and turned the hat around. Satisfied, Mr. Jacobi walked over to a rowdy table to scold them about their behavior, then start on the whole "you're not paying costumers so I can kick you out whenever I want" spiel.

Forty-five more minutes passed, and Crutchie was getting a little concerned for his friend. Maybe he had encountered the Delancey brothers, or even Snyder, and they had taken him back to the Refuge and and with all the crimes that Jack had commited, which was mostly just stealing but there was something to say for not respecting elders, and then Snyder would- and he wouldn't be able to make it out and-and-DIE in there and then- Crutchie realized his breath had started to come out in short puffs. Calm down. He swallowed the lump in his throat.

Jack had probably had just gotten sidetracked, he reminded himself. There was nothing to worry about. Gradually, his breathing returned to normal. Still, the tiny sliver of worry was still there. Five more minutes. He'll come. Mr. Jacobi came by and refilled his cup for the fourth time.

"Whatever you're waiting for son, I don't think it's coming." The old man commented gently, attempting to make eye contact with the crippled boy. Crutchie avoided his gaze and stared at the wooden floorboards.

"He said he was coming." Crutchie's voice sounded cracked and dry and strange to himself. He cleared his throat.

"Jack's never late." He made the mistake of looking up, into the shopkeeper's icy blue eyes tinged with pity and worry. He winced, and broke the eye contact, grabbing his crutch.

"Thanks for the water Mr. Jacobi," he told the waiter. The old man nodded.

"Good luck finding your friend," he called as Crutchie hobbled out the door. Crutchie doubled his speed, going faster and faster. I'll ask Mr. Kloppman if he's seen Jack. He'll ought to know. He turned the corner, almost to the Lodging House. He slid to a stop in front of the worn out wood door, and pushed aside the screen. Mr. Kloppman was not in his usual spot behind the desk. Crutchie thumped his way up the stairs, to the bunks. And there was Jack, sitting on his bunk and reading a newspaper, one leg crossed over the other. He jumped up when he spotted Crutchie.

"Hey Crutchie! I just had the mos' wonderful date with Katherine… We went out for lunch at this fancy new place, walked through the park together and talked about the future… it was amazing." Jack said, leaning back against the pillow. He sat up again.

"I'm in love Crutchie and it feels great. She's the only one for me. We share everything these days. I feel like I could talk to her about anything. Maybe one day we'll both go to California together, just the two of us."

Crutchie felt ice run through his veins. A date? The future together? Share anything with her? California? He clutched the tiny train in his pocket, and swallowed.

"So what have you been up to?" Jack asked, doodling something on the newspaper.

"Well," Crutchie's voice came out in a gravelly whisper, "I've been waiting for you at Tibby's. We were gonna met there remember? " Jack leaned further back and stretched.

"Sorry Crutchie. I figured you wouldn't mind." He said casually, "Figured you'd just go to the races with Race or something." Crutchie squeezed the train so hard the top started cutting into his hand.

"Jack." Jack looked up from his sketch.

"Yeah?"

"You know that I hate the races."

Jack looked like he was trying to act surprised but miserably failing. Of course he knew that, especially after the one time they went together when they were fourteen and Crutchie slipped and fell in the poop.

"Crutchie you know how much I like Katherine. Can't you just let me spend a little time with her? Don't be selfish."

Don't be selfish. Don't be selfish. Don't be selfish. The words tumbled around in Crutchie's brain, repeating over and over again. The ice in his veins turned to fire. And the fear turned to anger.

"Selfish? You think I'm selfish? You're always spending time with Katherine, and never time with me, your best friend!"

Jack finally set the newspaper down.

"Geez Crutchie, what's your problem? You act like I'm totally abandoning you. Just because I hung out with my girlfriend instead of you doesn't mean I'm choosing her over you. Plus, this was once."

Crutchie felt tears threatening to spill out. He sucked in a breath of air.

"This was not just once Jack. This was one of many times before." He calmly stated. "All of those times you took Katherine to the roof, all of those times I had to sell papers alone because you were off doing something with her-"

Finally Jack couldn't take it anymore. He sat up and advanced towards Crutchie.

"She's my girlfriend Crutchie! I thought you supported us being together! Why are you so angry at me being with the girl I love?"

Jack had never seemed taller and more imposing, yet Crutchie was too miserable to care. He continued on, close to tears.

"I-you choose her over me! I thought we were friends, Jack. Brothers even! But now I'm just getting tossed out like yesterday's garbage?" Crutchie felt tears running down his cheeks, and sniffled. He wiped the side of his face.

"And you're taking Katherine to California ow? What about Santa Fe, huh? I thought you and I were going to go together. Look at all the money we collected!"

Crutchie dug underneath the bunk, pulled out the box, and opened up the top. There was half as much money in it before. Crutchie stared at the box in shock.

"What happened to the money? You and I were the only ones who knew about the box."

He looked over at Jack. He was gazing at his shoes. Crutchie felt anger swell up within him.

"You've been taking money?"

Jack mumbled something at his shoes. He cleared his throat, and repeated himself.

"Date's ain't cheap."

Crutchie slammed the lid back down.

"I trusted you," he said in a dangerously soft voice, " I trusted you Jack, and you betrayed me! I thought we were brothers, but brothers don't take advantage of each other."

Jack continued staring at the floorboards. Crutchie choked back a sob of disbelief and hurt. Suddenly, Katherine herself burst into the room.

"Jack! I asked my father for a little extra money, and I can pay for both of our train tickets to California!" She said excitedly, shifting the brown book bag on her shoulder to grab something from inside.

"Katherine, can we talk about this outside?" Jack said quietly.

"Sure! Hold on, it's in here somewhere…"

Jack led his girlfriend out of the room, not looking at Crutchie once. Crutchie watched the couple walk out of the room, watched his best friend walk out on him. The tears had dried. The fireball of anger was gone, and the only thing left was a pit of emptiness, and deep sadness. A bird chirped outside, and Crutchie snapped out of his daydream. He looked at the worn box in his hands, half full with coins. Enough for a one person, one way trip to Santa Fe. The tiny train lay heavily in his pocket.

What was the point of staying if your best friend gives up on you? There was nothing left New York had that Santa Fe didn't. He stood up. It was time to leave, He thought, For sure.

 **TTTTHHHHEEEE EEENNNDD. Always wanted to end a story that way, but apparently you can't put THHHEEEE ENNNDD at the end of a story, unless you're a movie. Or at least no one does it. I don't know how the system works. Anyways, sorry if any of the characters seemed OOC, sheepish Jack and upset Crutchie are hard to write. Thank you for choosing this story to waste five minutes of your life on.**


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